Friday, April 11, 2008

Garden of Life (4)

I am going to start this post by wishing my brother Drew a HAPPY 30th! Today is his big day. He's the baby in the family...so I have to make a big deal out of this birthday!!!

When I created Garden of Life I wanted a set with lots of potential. As you follow me this week you will "see" what I mean.

Today's project=FUN!

What you will need1) Polyshrink/shrinky dink is one of my all time favourite things to craft with. If you have never used this product you should know that it comes in thin flexible sheets. Once heated, it shrinks approximately 45-50% and becomes thick and strong. Read more about it HERE.

I bought some polyshrink from a LSS as well as shrinky dink from Michaels here in Canada. It comes in a variety of colours including: brown, white, translucent, clear, and black. I have spoken to a few of my US friends who recommend Lucky Squirrel Products, as an online source. You might also check Michaels (or other source) in the US. For the International visitors, you might google "Shrink Plastic" and your country and see what sources come up.

2) You will also need a sanding block (If you buy ready sanded polyshrink you don't need this block)

3) A piece of dowel (or a form of some sort--you can see mine in Step 5 below)

Are you ready for a fun project??? Something you can wear?

Step 1:I began by cutting strips of polyshrink to 1x5.5 (this size may vary) using my hobby blade. You can use your paper cutter but it wares the blade quickly. To prepare my surface for stamping, I sanded it with a 320-400 grade sanding (no need to sand if pre sanded)

Step 2:I stamped on my strips of polyshrink using my Palette ink. You can also use StazOn.

Place your polyshrink strip decorated side up on your cookie sheet (I have an old one JUST for crafting). Heat for 1.5-2 minutes.

It's fun to watch it heat. You'll see it start to curl and twist. Don't worry, it flips back and flattens 9.99 times out of 10.

Note: Because each type of polyshrink shrinks differently you may want to play around with a few practice pieces first. Don't worry, I had a few of those too!

This is what it looks like after shrinking.

Step 5:At this stage you can take it out of the oven using a flipper and IMMEDIATELY place it around your dowel/form (you have between 10-15 seconds before it hardens again). Keep in mind that the polyshrink is going to be hot so I strongly advise you to wear gloves to protect your hands from the heat when "forming" your polyshrink.

Note: The dowel/form needs to be the right finger size. If you need help determining your ring size check out this International Ring Size site. I wear a size 6 ring so my bead container was the closest in diameter and circumference (ugh did I just you MATH terms???!!!) Also, make sure that whatever form you choose you can withstand heat since the polyshrink will be hot.

This ring is rounder than it appears in this photo *lol*

And now to the finished product!

You can see by this photo that you don't need to have a ring that wraps completely around your finger...it just has to be big enough to hold it in place. (Refer to the wildflower and rose ring below)

These beautiful rings are fabulous for all occasions. I think I will whip up a few for my friends (birthdays), for kids goody bags, for Mother's Day and more!

Another clever project that you designed Alli. Who would have thought to make a ring out of polyshrink. I have some that it is already sanded and will try this. thanks for choosing my name for this set. I am so anxious to get it. It is the best one yet.Cheryl Sims

I LOVE this idea! How cool would this be for a girls party favor, they could even make them themselves! And for Girl Scouts! We're always looking for fun things for them to do. I can't wait until the 15th!

This is the cutest project. I can just see making these with young girls. My 10 year old would love this!! We are moving cross country this summer, so this would be really fun to do with all her friends before we leave. Thank you for a fantastic set and amazing inspiration!!

These are SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!! I don't have any girls. . .but I would love to make these to give to the girls in my son's class! I am definitely going to try this! Thanks so much for sparking my creativity!!

This is such a great project! I can't wait to play with the polyshrink... only I'm going to make napkin rings instead of finger rings. I'll just increase the size. Who knows maybe I'll make some wine charms to match. Great gift idea! Ooooh, I can't wait to play. By the way, I love the set too! Gorgeous!

OMGosh, what perfect timing! How did you know :) I just bought some shrinky dink and have been waiting for a project to try it out on. I'd be like the Mervyn's lady tapping at the window saying "open", "open", "open", but the release is in Cyberspace. Oh well, I guess I can think it huh?

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All content, including text, images, photographs, and design work is COPYRIGHT Alli Miles. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. Please use my ideas and designs solely for personal use, not for publication. ALWAYS ask my permission before using any of my images on your blog.

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